Shocks

[Bulldog]

Am trying to soften up the ride on my car what type of shock would be good? It is not a coil oversetup thanks. Bulldog

[cycleguy55]

I faced a similar issue with my West Coast Cobra, though I wanted to go a bit firmer. I ended up dealing with the QA1 technical folks. They need information about weight, normal height (length of shock), mounting types for both end of shocks, etc., and they'll make recommendations about single or double-adjustable shocks. Highly recommended though, of course, there are others.

[Bulldog]

Thanks cycleguuy55good info.Bulldog.

[Ron61]

I agree with cycleguy. I used QA-1s on my cars both regular shocks and coil overs and really liked them and never had a single problem with them. And their tech help was good the one time I called to ask about a spring rate when racing.

Ron

[Bulldog]

Thanks Ron will Co. Out qa1

[rbgray1]

QA1 is the way to go. You may not want to go dual adjustable, I only installed single adjustable when I installed my coil over suspension. I just think I would be making damping AND rebound adjustments that frequently or EVER.

If I was into Rally Cross or slalom racing, I might. But it's just a fun toy for me.

[Bulldog]

Guys should I go with coil oversaw that will Boot to stock position a get rid of those jack bolts that came with the car?

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by Bulldog

Guys should I go with coil oversaw that will Boot to stock position a get rid of those jack bolts that came with the car?

Assuming I correctly understand your question, I'd say you need to be cautious about assuming shock mounts are strong enough to handle the weight of the car. Shock mounts are designed to handle shock absorber / dampening loads. Replacing shocks with coil-overs means those mounts are now carrying car weight and may well fail - catastrophically.

[Bulldog]

Cycleguy55 thanks for reply about shock mounts being strong enough. To handle weight of car with bolt on coil over did not think that one throuht i think you are correct will have to study on this a little more. Bulldog

[Ron61]

That is good information and something that I forgot to mention. Since I was racing and driving my cars hard, I had the stock shock mounts removed and put in heavy duty ones that would stand up under very hard driving and cornering. Thanks for catching me leaving that out.

Ron

Originally Posted by cycleguy55

Assuming I correctly understand your question, I'd say you need to be cautious about assuming shock mounts are strong enough to handle the weight of the car. Shock mounts are designed to handle shock absorber / dampening loads. Replacing shocks with coil-overs means those mounts are now carrying car weight and may well fail - catastrophically.

[rbgray1]

All,

Please see my previous posts regarding rear changes and bracket welding for installing rear coil overs (Kirk, we're under attack).

The standard shock mount bolts are not even close to handling the live weight of the rear of the car to convert to coil overs. I posted several pictures of changes made to the rear mount areas and the brackets required to handle the weight load for QA1 coilovers.

I had the brackets fabricated from 3/16 Cold Rolled Steel and welded gussets on the upper and lower mount points to transfer the loads to the upper frame and rear end housing (many pictures and diagrams on the previous post).

This was not difficult at all, just making sure of geometry and gusset support both in compression and rebound with proper welding procedures.

Front Coil Over install included conversion to Heidts tubular A-Arms and modification of the upper shock tower (pics also on previous post)

[Bulldog]

Thanks for all the info on shocks and mounting will look at all the posts Bulldog